


Christmas at the Motel 5

by pkjuns



Category: A.C.E (Beat Interactive Band)
Genre: Accidental Bonding, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Rock Band, Childhood Friends, Christmas, Family Drama, Fluff and Angst, Friend Breakup, Gen, Hotels, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Alternating, Power Outage, Self-Esteem Issues, Therapy, almost all of the angst is just byeongkwan and donghun, but BARELY like only if you squint super hard at donghun, but with each other, byeongkwan is kind of angsty, i really did him so dirty he deserves peace, it's pretty angsty, junhee just wants to see his family again, poor sehyoon is always stressed about smth, speaking of donghun he's sort of like the mystery man, there's a big ol snowstorm and they gotta go somewhere, where's the tag for "trying to lift my own spirits for the holidays by writing about a.c.e"?, you won't know why he's there until later but spoiler, yuchan and byeongkwan are basically attached at the hip, yuchan is sunshine as always
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:06:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 19,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28065201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pkjuns/pseuds/pkjuns
Summary: 5 strangers check into the Motel 5 Express in the bustling center of  Jeju 4 days before Christmas. It was never supposed to be anything more than a place to rest and move on with their lives, never knowing the others existed at all. But when a snowstorm traps all 5 in the building and forces them to spend the days leading up to Christmas together, they realize that fate has a weird way of bringing people into your life exactly when you need them, and maybe motels are not the last place anyone wants to be to have fun during the holidays.
Relationships: Kang Yuchan | Chan/Kim Byeongkwan/Kim Sehyoon | Wow/Lee Donghun/Park Junhee | Jun
Comments: 14
Kudos: 22





	1. Day 0 (December 21st) - Guest 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi everyone, i’m finally doing this!!! i’m mads if you don’t already know me, and if u do, then hi anyways. 
> 
> sooo the story behind this! i’ve been trying to get back into writing and had this concept planned to be released on the days coming up to christmas, but clearly i did not have the inspiration to do that... so i figured i should start it today and then keep moving it forward!
> 
> so basically, even though this is a christmas fic it will be lasting a liiiittle bit longer...
> 
> anyways uhhh best thing to do is just start from here, so i really hope you enjoy!!

The Motel 5 Express, sat between a run-down family diner and a 24-hour convenience store, has never been interesting enough to find a spot on anyone’s Korean travel guides. But with all of it’s advantages, it seems like that shouldn’t be true. The place has got a prime spot on scenic Jeju Island, close enough to the center to catch a full view of the infamous Mount Hallasan. It’s also a convenient ten-minute drive from the airport (as long as you don’t mind weaving through backroads and alleyways, or checking your side mirrors a concerning number of times). So what’s the issue? To put it simply, it’s a motel. And motels are the last place anyone wants to be to have fun. Blame that on what you will - horror movie stereotypes or a couple of bad Yelp reviews - but no amount of blame will change the fact that the Motel 5 Express was suffering from a real lack of clients.

It’s not like they didn’t try. Sure, the hotel’s manager could be a bit careless with her job, and maybe some of the rooms were kept too dusty to be comfortable. But in the end, she was always looking for new ways to show the world a vision of Motel 5 that screamed, “We’re open and we’re not covered in roaches! Come visit us!!” 

The holiday season was the best time of year for it -- the manager took great pride in her Christmas light setup that could be seen all the way from the planes passing above. The inside of the motel was just as nice, covered with fairy lights along the ceiling, candy cane displays at the front desk, and a dozen stockings hung up on the wall leading to the elevator. 

The only downside was that, once again, this was a motel. And motels are the last place anyone wants to be on Christmas. It’s a time for family and friends to get together, so who in their right mind would check into an unfamiliar and yes, very dusty room instead of spending it with the people they love? Maybe, the manager would often think as she watched dozens of cars drive past the front of the building on those cold winter nights, a motel was not one of her best ideas.

But it only takes one chance to set fate in a different path and start anew, with the help of a few people meeting for a few nights under one unbreakable barrier. This is the story of that chance, and the story that proves that maybe, just maybe, motels are not the last place anyone wants to be to have fun during the holidays.

******************************

The clock that hung above the front desk of the Motel 5 had just passed 1 in the morning when the front doors slammed open with a bang. A young man walked through these open doors with windswept black hair covered in a thick layer of snow, carrying a giant suitcase as if it weighed 300 lbs. The poor man struggled to push his bag against the force of the back wheels that weren’t doing the one thing they were designed to do: roll. After having made it far enough into the building to be shielded from the brutally cold winds, he ran a hand through his hair and raised his head to see who he assumed was the hotel manager at the front desk, doing nothing but watching him struggle. 

_How nice. I love some good hospitality_ , he thought as he forced a quick smile at her.

The man picked up his bag and carried it the rest of the way to the desk, dropping it with a thud and cursing under his breath. He lifted his head, smiling as he realized she was already watching him.

“Sorry about that. The snow is really brutal out there… it felt like I was sinking into the ground whenever I took a step.”

“So I’ve heard.” 

_She seems interested_ , he thought as he observed her dead eyes. “Really? I hope they clear it soon.” He was met with no response, only a blank stare. The man laughed, rubbing the back of his neck while trying to diffuse the awkward situation. “Anyways, I’m looking to check into a room for tonight.”

The manager looked at him, blinking slowly as if it had taken her several seconds to even hear him speak, let alone understand his words.

“Umm we’re all booked for tonight and the last room”, she explained as she pointed to a display of hooks behind her, only one of them holding a key, “is reserved for someone.”

The man’s eyes widened almost comically as he thought for a moment.

“Wait I think you’ve got this wrong. That’s MY room. We talked over the phone earlier?” He raised his eyebrows, hoping he hadn’t been scammed into thinking he’d found the last available room on the whole island for the night. Maybe the Hallasan Park benches weren’t that bad… he’s definitely slept on worse.

“Ohhh I see. So you’re-”

“Park Junhee”, he finished her thought, smiling widely. “Nice to meet you.”

The woman half smiled, not even trying to look excited about actually having to do her job.

“Okay, that makes it easy then.” She typed a few keystrokes, eyes moving across the screen as she pulled up what Junhee could only assume was his customer file full of information he gave her earlier over the phone. “You’re lucky you reserved it. To be honest, it’s never usually this busy…”, she trailed off, distracted by the screen in front of her.

Junhee giggled, taking this moment as an opportunity to wipe the snow off of his coat. “I guess I am. I never usually book at motels, so I didn’t really know what to expect.”

The woman looked up at him, stone-faced. Junhee suddenly wondered if he had said something wrong.

“I mean, I just said it. There’s usually never anyone here.”

“Yeah, well I uhh-”, he started, trying to not to feel his face burning up with embarrassment. “I know that now, I guess.”

“Good to know for next time.”

 _Next time_ , he thought, _I’ll make a point to not come back to a motel like this_. The sad truth was that Junhee shouldn’t have been in any hotel at all, especially not one as gross as a chain motel. His plans for a relaxing Christmas vacation had been derailed before they even began. As he watched the hotel manager continue to type, Junhee thought back to the moment things had gone awry at the airport terminal for his flight to Jeju.

He had been texting his older sister about their plans for the week when his flight’s captain arrived at the scene and announced that the flight was facing a six hour delay to let the building snowstorm ease up a bit. Junhee’s brain halted with the news, taking a couple of seconds to understand the gravity of what this meant. A six hour delay had him arriving in Jeju by 12:30 in the morning instead of 6:30 that night like he had planned. By the time he shows up, his sister would already be asleep and he’d be stuck at the airport with nowhere to go. That is, unless he booked a room for the night at a nearby hotel. But what a waste of money that would be! What kind of idiot would do something like that??

“Can I get your credit card?”

Junhee was immediately brought back to reality by the voice of the hotel manager in front of him, fingers tapping the table impatiently as if she’d been waiting several minutes. He smiled at her, suddenly feeling even more embarrassed by his situation.

“Yeah, one second.” He reached into his coat pocket, pulled out his wallet and grabbed the shiny white card sticking out of the first slot. On the other side in a transparent sleeve, a worn photo of 9-year-old Junhee with his older sister continued to take up the space where it had been for the last 10 years. He smiled, placing the card in front of him on the desk and ignoring the clerk’s look of confusion and her subtle eye roll.

 _So maybe I am an idiot for doing this_ , Junhee continued to think to himself as he rocked back and forth on his heels waiting for the manager to ring his card through. Maybe it was a stupid situation, even though it wasn’t really his fault. He knew this to be true, having already gone through every possible plan to get to Jeju earlier. 

He even asked the pilot back at the airport if they could look past the snow just this once, which he now realized was the stupidest thing he could have done. The pilot had most definitely thought the same when he told Junhee he’d fly the plane for him as long as Junhee didn’t fear dying on it. There was no easy way out of that one. Junhee mentally facepalmed just thinking about it.

The hotel manager slid the card back across the desk and Junhee placed it back in its correct spot in his wallet. He looked back up at her to see her stapling sheets of paper together and placing them on the desk. She grabbed the last key from behind her and dropped it on top of the papers.

“This is just a basic contract for you to sign. Says that nobody can sue for injury on the property.”

“But that seems-”

“If there’s an issue with that, I’ll just cancel your room”, the hotel manager looked up at him condescendingly. Junhee stared at her, fighting to keep up his pleasant demeanour even though all he wanted was to run away to a different location and never come back here.

“No it’s fine.”

“Good. Like I was saying, you need to sign this. Then I’ve got the TV guide and the Wifi password on this sheet here.” She lifted up a brochure with the motel logo printed in big letters across the front. “And obviously, your room key.”

Junhee signed the contract without reading it, knowing well enough that if he stopped to read, he would force himself to leave without having anywhere else to go. Moving the contract back to the manager, Junhee grabbed his key and pocketed it alongside the brochure.

“I’ve only got you booked for tonight, but I still need to ask because it’s routine. Do you have any questions about your stay here?”

“No, I think I’m set”, Junhee said, forcing another close-lipped smile. The hotel manager nodded, grabbing the coffee mug beside her and taking a sip. Junhee’s eyes lit up momentarily. “Oh actually, I guess I do have a question!”

The hotel manager looked at him stunned, as if he was asking her for his firstborn child. This kind of look seemed to be a trend with her. _Making guests feel like they’re a chore is not the business strategy she thinks it is_ , he thought as he continued to smile.

“Do you guys offer complimentary coffee?”

“Yeah we do, but you have to come down here for it. The only appliance in your room is a kettle, so unless you’re into that instant shit I would recommend coming down here for the good stuff.”

Junhee must have made a face at the thought of instant coffee, because he saw the woman in front of him smirk for only a fraction of a second. It was enough for him to realize that hey, maybe this woman isn’t too bad. After all, everyone’s a bit of a dick at one in the morning.

“Amazing! Then I think I’ll head up to my room. Thanks for your help-”, he paused, glancing at the woman’s nameplate on the desk, “- Ms. Hyeim.”

Kim Hyeim raised her eyebrows. “No problem. Let me know if something breaks or catches fire.”

With a quick nod, Junhee grabbed his suitcase and attempted to drag it across the carpet to the elevator down the hall. When he realized that the wheels definitely would not work he picked it up and waddled to the elevator, pressing the button to call it. The doors immediately opened, which was not a surprise since who else in this building was even awake right now? 

Walking inside, Junhee noticed that there was only one button, the one labelled UP that leads to the single floor of rooms in this place. He pressed it, the doors closing in front of him. 

In no time at all, Junhee was on the second floor and searching for the room number that matched the engraving on his key, ROOM 03. The other doors on the floor were dark, with barely any noise coming from them. He could have sworn he heard something fall in Room 05 at the end of the hall, but what would be the point of investigating? He already knew the place was packed.

Entering his room, Junhee continued to think about the others in the building. Surely they wouldn’t have been forced out of options too, right? Did they all suddenly choose to stay here? And why did it even matter to him? He’d leave tomorrow and never see them again.

These thoughts faded as Junhee dozed off, ignoring the increasingly loud sound of freezing rain hitting his window.

***************************

The key rack in the lobby sat empty, a signal to Hyeim that the day was done as she locked the front door and headed to her office. She thought about the 5 strangers staying upstairs and how, somehow, Junhee had been the least strange of them all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok.... taking a breath... i was nervous about this today :(((
> 
> i’m sorry if this seems really short and cut off. i was trying to get all 5 members into one chapter, but if i did this would be released nowhere near christmas soooo i’ve made the executive decision to have 5 shorter sections to start!!
> 
> it’s been a long time since i’ve written anything so please feel free to share your criticisms wherever u want! either in the comments or you can check out my twitter (where i am a whole hot mess all the time) or my cc!
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/pkjuns)  
> [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/pkjuns)
> 
> thanks for reading! i’ll be back very soon with the next opening piece, but until then, merry christmas!! <3


	2. Day 0 (December 21st) - Guests 2-5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey, i'm back!! sorry for the delay in updating, but i've come back with something much longer, so i hope that's enough of a compromise for us :)
> 
> i decided against 4 smaller chapters and figured that one big chapter would fit much better with the flow of the story. so that's what we're doing!!
> 
> i hope you enjoy!!

Hyeim’s office was, just like the rest of the motel, nothing special. A single room of less than ideal size, barely enough to fit all of the customer files she hadn’t sorted through or thrown away since she opened the motel. Bookshelves filled to the brim with files covered almost every square inch of the walls, with some files even piled in front of the bottom shelves or tucked in corners. Any space left on the wall was filled with promotional posters for The Motel 5, personal photos, and sticky notes full of tasks she never did. Her desk sat in front of the small window that faced Mount Hallasan. This was on purpose -- Hyeim tolerated her job well enough, but there were times when the space felt so suffocating that just looking outside could bring the fresh air into the room. 

Her desk was littered with even more files, as well as an old PC laptop that couldn’t run without sounding like it was on fire, and a picture of her and her husband in a small black frame. A big electric fan sat unplugged on the corner of the desk as well, because who needs a fan running in the winter?

Hyeim was seated at that very desk, staring at the five files in front of her that detailed the men currently living one story above her.

It’s not that she was unhappy that they were here. By all means, any motel guest is enough to send her into an internal celebration, featuring a big banner that reads WE’RE NOT GOING BANKRUPT TODAY! It was a big deal. Every time. 

However, she was confused to say the least. In all of her years running this place, Hyeim had never had all available rooms filled in one night. Occasionally, there was a passerby or two that would check in, and Hyeim was thankful even for that. But five people… and five strange people at that.

She leaned forward in her desk chair and opened the nearest file. The name _PARK JUNHEE_ stood out in a large font at the top of the page. She scoffed, thinking about the awkward man that was not very good at hiding the fact that he did not want to be here. 

She moved on to the next, and the next, until she had five files open sitting side by side on the desk. She read over each of the names, remembering the brief encounter she’d had with them. Yes, they were definitely all strange. So strange, in fact, that she had made personas for each of them the moment they’d walked away from her desk. The bickering couple, the loner, and the asshole.

Hyeim picked up one of the files, leaning back as she inspected the contents again. She sucked on the inside of her cheek as she recalled the last 24 hours from her most previous encounters.

*****************************************************************************************************************

It was half past midnight when two men with wildly bright green and pink hair walked into the Motel 5, arms full of more bags than necessary for just two people. They looked around, and immediately, the difference between their reactions to the place was more than obvious. The man with green hair looked around with stars in his eyes, enthralled by the fairy lights.

“Whoaaaa, how do you think they got those up there?”, he asked his friend, turning to see his reaction.

The man with pink hair didn’t look back at his friend, and was instead, staring in borderline disgust at the carpet that must have been inserted back in the 90s. He eventually looked to his friend, who pointed up to the ceiling and continued waiting eagerly for a response.

“Probably a ladder, Yuchan”, the pink haired man told his friend, eyebrows raised and giving a tired smirk.

“No no, I meant how did they stick them like that?”

The pink haired man chucked, then looked up at Yuchan to meet his eye.

“I have no idea. Why does that matter?”

Yuchan blinked, thinking. He shrugged. “I don’t know. Just curious.”

“Yeah you’re always curious, you’re-”

The sound of a door opening made both men stop and turn their heads toward the front desk, where a woman had just stepped into the room with a hot mug of coffee. She saw them immediately, stopping in her tracks with a heavy sigh. Yuchan suddenly felt like he shouldn’t be here, as if they were a problem for her. He smiled and waved regardless.

“Hi… are you here to check in?” she asked, eyeing each of them warily.

“Yeah, we are. Just one room though, please”, the pink haired man said, approaching the counter. Yuchan followed quickly behind him.

Hyeim sat down, typing something into her computer. “Can I get a name for the reservation?”

“Kim Byeongkwan”, the man with the pink hair answered.

“You can add my name too! It’s Kang Yuchan.”

The woman squinted at Yuchan like he was the gum she’d accidentally touched underneath a chair. Yuchan’s smile never faltered.

“I only need one name, but thanks.” Yuchan noticed she didn’t type anything. He still beamed.

“Sorry um, what else do you need?” Byeongkwan asked, stepping slightly in front of his friend. Yuchan noticed his ears turning red from the angle he was standing at, but could not for the life of him understand why Byeongkwan would be embarrassed.

She turned to Byeongkwan, eyes returning to normal. “Just an emergency contact number and a credit card to charge you for the room.”

Yuchan took this opportunity to step back in front of Byeongkwan, trying to balance two bags in one arm so he could use the other to fish for his wallet in his coat pocket. “Oh, charge half to mine please! We’re sharing it.”

Byeongkwan grabbed his arms to stop him.

“I got it, don’t worry”, he said as he dropped his bags on the floor. _Oh,_ Yuchan thought to himself, _that would have probably made things a bit easier_. He followed Byeongkwan’s lead, letting all of the bags drop from his arms. He was met with a bug-eyed Byeongkwan when he finally found his wallet.

“Did you just drop our equipment?”

Yuchan looked down to the bags he’d been holding. Sure enough, their equipment bag (very clearly labelled in white marker) was among the pile. His eyes widened as he let out a screech and sunk to the floor.

“I’m sure they’re fine! I’ll check them out.”

Byeongkwan sighed, taking the opportunity to give Hyeim his credit card. He recited his phone number, then paused. He turned to check on Yuchan, who was still digging through the bag and making angry noises as he did.

“Just charge the room to mine. Don’t mind him.”

Yuchan paused and looked up, considering his friend. It was common these days for Byeongkwan to speak over him like this, but it didn’t stop him from feeling embarrassed whenever it happened, especially when it came to money. Byeongkwan seemed to have this fantasy in his head that Yuchan didn’t know how to save money, which was completely false. He **knew** how, he just chose not to.

He slowly looked back down, closing the bag and standing up. He wasn’t smiling anymore.

“Equipment is fine.”

Byeongkwan nodded at him and turned his attention back to the front desk.

“So how long are you planning on staying?” Hyeim asked, eyes not leaving her computer screen.

The boys looked at each other. To be honest, neither of them were 100% sure. Despite that, Yuchan immediately turned back to Hyeim with a smile reappearing on his face.

“Probably just tonight! Although we’d love to stay longer, we’ve got a-”

“Work”, Byeongkwan interrupted. “We’ve got work. In Tokyo, two days from now.”

“Tokyo? What brings you to Jeju then?”

Byeongkwan opened his mouth to speak, but Yuchan grabbed his shoulder to stop him. Knowing his friend, Byeongkwan would make the situation sound worse than it is, just like he always did. There was no need to be so melancholy.

“It’s the snowstorm outside! We were flying from Manila when they mentioned we’d be stopping for an emergency landing”, Yuchan talked quickly, not noticing Byeongkwan eyeing him and trying to get his attention. “So we’re here for now until the snow calms down and then we’re booking a flight and heading off.”

“Manila, huh?” Hyeim crossed her arms, pouting as if she was pondering whether to say what was on her mind. She looked up at Yuchan with interest for the first time since he’d arrived. “What kind of business did you have in Manila?”

Byeongkwan pushed Yuchan behind him again. “Just more work. We’re here for tonight and leaving early tomorrow morning.”

Yuchan looked at him, head cocked to the side. “But what if there’s no flight tomor-”

“Do you offer any rooms with two single beds?” Byeongkwan cut him off, leaning his arms on the counter.

Hyeim looked between them, trying to ignore the tension in the air. She turned around quickly, eyeing the key rack with only two keys hanging from it. She reached for one of them.

“You’re in luck. Room 4 and 5 are both double rooms, but 4 is out of order for now. We’ve still got 5 open if you want?”

“That’s perfect, thank you”, Byeongkwan smiled, doing his best to not look at Yuchan who was definitely staring at him and most likely pouting. As Hyeim typed away for a few moments, Byeongkwan turned to his left to check. Yuchan was pouting, as expected. Yuchan looked away when he noticed Byeongkwan caught him, directing the pout to the elevators.

He turned back to see Byeongkwan reading over the motel’s contract. A brochure lay next to the paper, which he eagerly reached for. Only a dozen television channels inside… what else did he expect?

Hyeim reached for the contract after Byeongkwan had finished signing. “Do you guys have any questions before you head upstairs?”

Yuchan raised his hand, as if it would make his question more credible.

Hyeim blinked. “Um...yes?”, she asked, pointing at his hand.

“Do you guys offer rooftop tanning? I’ve gotten so pale recently, and I’d love to prepare for Tokyo.”

He laughed. Obviously, this was a joke. However, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Byeongkwan turning red with embarrassment for the second time tonight. What was with him and not having any fun today?

Hyeim looked about as exhausted as Byeongkwan looked embarrassed. “I mean, we do have rooftop access. But it’s snowing. Like, a lot. Also”, she paused, looking at the clock on the wall, “it’s almost 1am.”

“I know I know, just joking around with you.”

“O….kay. If you don’t have any other questions, I’ll-”

Yuchan’s eyes widened. “Wait, I have a real one!”

Byeongkwan turned to look at him. “Yuchan, let’s just go upstairs-”

“Do you guys fold your towels like little swans? You know what I’m talking about, right?”

Hyeim shared a look with Byeongkwan, a look full of exhaustion and apologies and a shared need to be done with Yuchan’s antics. He took the hint.

“It’s all good, I’ll just fold them myself.”

“Yeah, you do that. We’ll be going now. Thanks for your help”, Byeongkwan rushed to grab the key on the table and shove Yuchan toward the bags he dropped. They somehow found their footing even with all of the extra weight in their arms, and entered one of the elevators.

The ride up was short but was overwhelmingly tense. Yuchan looked over to Byeongkwan as the doors were closing. There was obvious anger in his face, but Yuchan could not explain why he was so defensive right now.

“Why didn’t you want to tell her we were in Manila for a concert?”

Byeongkwan closed his eyes and heaved a sigh.

“Because Yuchan”, he said as he looked at Yuchan directly in the eyes, “she didn’t need to know. There’s no reason to share so much.”

Yuchan paused.

“Are you embarrassed by our music?”

Byeongkwan scoffed and turned to face the front of the elevator again. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“I don’t know, I-”

Byeongkwan and Yuchan watched the doors open, and paused their conversation to move their load out the door and down the hall. They passed Room 4, marked with a paper sign that read OUT OF ORDER.

Byeongkwan reached the door first, unlocking it with the key marked **ROOM 05**. Yuchan took the opportunity to pick up where they left off.

“I just don’t get why you don’t want to talk about it. Personally, I want to flex our music all the time. And so I do.”

“Yeah, when I’m not there to stop you from being stupid.”

The lock clicked and the door opened. Byeongkwan entered the room in silence, followed by Yuchan who had no idea how to change his friend’s mind.

“Whatever”, Yuchan sighed, dropping his bags gently onto the nearest bed. “You can’t stop me from saying what I want. And unlike you, I’m proud of what we’ve done.”

“I never said I wasn’t proud, and I don’t plan on stopping you.”

“Really? Because you did a whole lot of that downstairs just now.” 

“Can we not do this right now?” Byeongkwan turned around from where he was sitting on the other bed. “I’m trying to book our flight for tomorrow, so can you not make this more difficult?”

“Oh I’m making it difficult. Just like always, right?” Yuchan stomped over to stand in front of us. “And because I’m just so impossible, you’re not even consulting me about the flight.”

Byeongkwan hung his head before looking up at his friend. “It’s a flight, Yuchan. I’ll let you book it if you want to. I really just want to get it done, alright?”

“Okay cool. Then let me see.”

The room was frozen, both boys looking at each other.

“Come on, let me see”, Yuchan grabbed for Byeongkwan’s phone. The two pulled on the device, back and forth in a seemingly never ending game of tug-of-war. Finally, Byeongkwan gave in but Yuchan was pulling too hard, causing the phone to fly to the other end of the room. It crashed to the ground.

Yuchan’s eyes widened, turning slowly to Byeongkwan. His friend was just staring at the device with a blank face, saying nothing. Finally, he got up to pick up the device and inspect the cracked screen.

“You book it.”

And with that, Byeongkwan walked into their bathroom and shut the door.

Yuchan sat down on the bed, looking at the floor. He knew he was being stupid, but he also couldn’t stand Byeongkwan’s attitude toward him. It was like Byeongkwan was his father and Yuchan was a toddler who just learned how to walk without stumbling. He was sick of it, but even after confronting him, there didn’t seem to be an understanding.

Yuchan walked back to the other bed and placed the bags on the ground beside it. He laid down, glaring at the strip of light peering through the bottom of the bathroom door. He should probably say something, but he wouldn’t. They never did. Their fights always ended in the two ignoring each other until something more important came up to talk about. Sure, it wasn’t smart but it was the only way he knew how to deal with this sudden change of pace in their friendship.

“Whatever”, Yuchan whispered. He tucked himself under the covers of the bed, not even bothering to wash up before sleeping. They would deal with this in the morning, and if not, there was always tomorrow’s flight where they could sit in silence and pretend they weren’t mad at each other. 

The last things he heard before letting unconsciousness take over was the opening of a door and the click of a lightswitch.

*********************************************************************

He stood in front of the counter for eight minutes. He counted them exactly to the second. Nobody was here except for him. 

Maybe he should ring the bell on the counter? No, those are never there to actually be rung. How annoying would it be to have someone ring a bell to get your attention? There’s no way he would call the motel staff like a dog, when he could just continue to wait like he had been.

Another ten minutes passed. He checked his phone for what felt like the millionth time, and immediately frowned upon seeing yet another email notification under the top half of the lock screen that read _December 21st, 7:40pm_. He couldn’t even bear to look at what the email said, so he swiped his finger left and checked his appearance.

The snow was starting to pick up outside, and with it came heavy winds that had blown his brown hair into messy tangles. He tried to fix it as best as he could, but was having little luck. He adjusted the round glasses that sat lightly on his nose, then locked the phone and pocketed it swiftly. Rocking back and forth on his feet, he craned his neck to try and catch a glimpse into the room behind the counter, where he assumed the hotel staff would be.

As if he read the woman’s mind, Hyeim stepped out of the office and, upon seeing the man standing at the counter, flinched and yelled in fear.

“Oh my god, hi”, she said, covering her mouth with her palm and trying to hide the fact that she’d been scared so easily by this man just standing silently in the lobby.

The man looked concerned, but stepped closer to the counter.

“Hi… sorry about that. I didn’t know, uh, how to get your attention.”

She looked at him wide-eyed, then pointed to the bell.

“There’s a bell.”

The man looked at the bell slowly. 

“Oh yeah, I guess there is.”

Silence filled the room. Hyeim slowly walked to her seat behind the counter and turned the computer on.

“It’s my fault”, she said, “but to be fair, I wasn’t expecting any guests.”

“This is a motel, right?”

The woman blinked at him.

“Well… yes. But we’re at our capacity.”

The man looked behind Hyeim, at the rack of keys that currently held 3 different available keys. He squinted, trying to understand how that equalled a full motel. Hyeim followed his gaze to the rack, then turned back to him quickly.

“It’s our normal capacity, alright? What’s your name for the reservation?”

The man looked apologetically at her and mumbled a name.

“What was that?”

Instead of repeating the name, the man pulled a card out of his pocket and slid it onto the counter. Even from behind the desk, Hyeim could see the name **KIM SEHYOON** in bold letters.

“Alright, Mr Kim. How long are you planning on staying with us?” Hyeim asked, typing Sehyoon’s name into her system.

Sehyoon rubbed the back of his neck, looking at the wall behind Hyeim. “I’m leaving the city late on the 26th, so probably just until that afternoon.”

Hyeim turned her eyes from the computer to look directly at Sehyoon. He was stunned by the sudden eye contact, choosing once again to look at the wall instead of the woman in front of him.

“You’re staying here for Christmas?” she asked, leaning forward. “Just so you know, we’re not doing anything special here for Christmas. Quite frankly, I don’t have the budget for that.”

“That’s fine”, Sehyoon responded, finally turning to face Hyeim. “I don’t expect it. Even if there was something happening, I couldn’t make it. I have work to do that day.”

“You’re working on Christmas?...” she trailed off, looking disgusted.

Sehyoon knew the look of disgust was directed at his job and not at him directly, but that knowledge was not enough to stop him from feeling nervous about it. He was causing her too much trouble by trying to talk to her like this.

The woman must have seen the anxiousness painted on his face. “Sorry… I’ve been told to avoid digging into stories like that.” She turned back to her computer, looking more apprehensive than before. Sehyoon’s frown deepened. He hadn’t been meaning to make her uncomfortable.

“No, I mean it’s fine, just…”, Sehyoon paused, trying to gather his thoughts. “I don’t think it’s a bad thing to do. I’d just prefer to not talk about it, if that’s okay.”

Hyeim nodded. “Yeah, of course. Let’s just move on, shall we?” She continued to type, while Sehyoon took a deep breath and internally tried to thank her for moving the conversation along from that awkward stopping point.

Hyeim turned around to grab a key off of the rack on the back counter, then turned back to Sehyoon.

“I’ll have Room 2 reserved for you, as long as you’re okay with a single room?”, she asked, circling the keyring around her finger.

“That’s fine. You need my credit card, right?” Sehyoon questioned as he began to dig into his pocket searching for his card.

“You’re reading my mind today, that’s exactly what I need. Can I use the phone number on this card as the emergency contact?”

Sehyoon looked up at her, sliding the credit card across the table and positioning it perfectly next to his business card. “Of course. That’s my number so it would be the same as if I said it… but probably easier... as long as you can read it… but yeah, it works just fine”, he said, biting his lip in an attempt to stop rambling.

Hyeim nodded weakly, looking at both cards in front of her and typing in the information quickly.

Sehyoon took the opportunity to check his phone once more, only to be met with two more emails on top of the one he saw earlier. He sighed, moving to close his phone before suddenly stopping at the appearance of another notification. This one was a text message from his boss, one that he knew he had to answer right away. He opened the text conversation.

**DO NOT ANSWER!!!!!!**

Sehyoon, update me on what’s happening.You should be in Jeju

by now, so please check your email ASAP. I have things for

you to do.

Sehyoon sighed, grimacing. He wished phones had the ability to bring the person you’re texting into the room with you, so he could give his boss many lovely punches right in the nose. This is your job, Sehyoon reminded himself. This is what you convinced yourself that you want to do. You have to do it.

** DO NOT ANSWER!!!!!! **

hey, i just landed and i’m checking into that motel you recommended

Perfect. The place is great. Very clean.

Sehyoon glanced around the motel, at the concerning dark stains on the carpet and the wallpaper pulling off of the top corners of the walls. He looked back to Hyeim at the desk, who was angrily slapping her computer and mumbling curses under her breath. Meanwhile, the laptop sounded as if it were seconds from exploding, very clearly not good at its job.

Sehyoon cleared his throat and looked back at his phone, only to find more messages.

** DO NOT ANSWER!!!!!! **

Anyways, check in quickly.

I forwarded you some of Yurin’s spreadsheets, and I need them 

done before your big meeting on the 23rd.

why isn’t yurin doing them?

She has the week off, as do most others. 

Don’t be surprised if I send you more to do.

but you told me nobody was allowed to take the week off?

i requested time off a little while ago, and you said no…

That was a while ago, Sehyoon.

I just changed my mind about it.

It’s too late to re-request, but you don’t

mind, do you?

Sehyoon continued to stare at his phone, dumbfounded. Who knows how many people were allowed the holidays off while he was stuck here? Probably 90% of the office, if he was lucky to even be left with the other 10%. He wouldn’t be surprised if it was just him and his boss for the next week, although he hoped that wasn’t the case. If it was, it would basically be like running the office on his own.

In the heat of the moment, he began to type a reply and moved to send it. His thumb hovered over the send button, unable to move. He stayed that way for a few moments, then moved his finger away from the screen. He read his message back.

** DO NOT ANSWER!!!!!! **

no actually, i do mind. i always mind when you do 

things like this. i don’t understand why you’re doing 

this to me, or why i should have to do everyone’s job 

for them. it’s not fair and i’m tired of it.

_ SEND _

He sighed and deleted it without sending.

“Hello? Mr Kim?”

Sehyoon looked up to see Hyeim staring at him expectedly. He’d tuned out whatever she had just said, too busy with his work dilemma.

“Sorry, uh, what did you say?”, Sehyoon asked quietly, locking his phone and pocketing it.

“I just saw that you had a company card. I was asking whether you enjoyed work at Arin Corp?”

“Oh, uhm yeah I do. It’s really rewarding for me”, Sehyoon lied, giving a shy smile.

Something about his smile was probably off, or maybe she had just sensed the lie, but Hyeim suddenly looked uneasy at his response. She turned to her computer again, nodding.

Sehyoon pulled his phone back out and unlocked it. The empty message box was back, taunting him with the message he desperately wanted to send. He’d been wanting to say that for the past four years, ever since the earliest days he can remember at Arin Corp. 

But he knew in his heart that he couldn’t. It was not the responsible thing to do. And Sehyoon couldn’t afford to stop being responsible.

** DO NOT ANSWER!!!!!! **

i don’t mind at all. i’ll have those spreadsheets in by tomorrow night.

Good.

Don’t forget to save some time to rehearse your presentation for 

the 23rd.

We can’t afford to lose that client, they’re going to be the biggest 

gain of the year.

Do you understand me???

yes sir. i’ll have it done.

Ok good.

Check your email and get started ASAP.

In his peripheral vision, Sehyoon saw Hyeim pushing his two cards back toward him. Sehyoon pocketed his phone again and grabbed them off of the counter, putting them in their corresponding places in his wallet.

“So I’ve got this contract for you that just sort of outlines motel policy. Feel free to read it over”, Hyeim said, reaching behind her to grab the package of paper.

Sehyoon took a quick skim of the contract, finding a couple of concerning points like the refusal to take liability for any injuries in the motel. That sounded like a disaster waiting to happen, Sehyoon thought. But he didn’t expect anything less from a motel that his boss recommended specifically for him.

He signed the contract quickly, and was then greeted with a brochure with a stock image of an old television on the front. _Classy_.

“This is yours. It’s a TV guide and it’s got the Wifi password in it… just some basic things”, Hyeim continued, taking the contract from him.

“Oh, so you guys have complimentary wifi, then?”

“Yes, we do. I know it looks old in here, but I promise we’re up to date”, she laughed.

“I never said it was old in here. I mean, a little outdated and falling apart a little bit, but… I mean, it’s not… it’s fine”, Sehyoon stumbled over his point, not realizing how mean he sounded. 

Clearly Hyeim thought the same, looking at him as if she were trying to keep herself together with a shaky customer service smile. 

“Yeah. We’re really modern here.” The sarcasm in her tone was painfully evident. Sehyoon chewed on his bottom lip, embarrassed.

“Anyways, you’re good to go if there’s no other questi-”

Hyeim didn’t get to finish, because Sehyoon had already grabbed his bag and was walking swiftly to the elevators.

“Mr Kim!!”

Sehyoon stopped in his tracks, turning slowly to face the woman who was holding up a key.

“You left your room key here”, she said slowly, trying to read his face and what inspired him to run away like that.

Sehyoon rushed back to the desk and grabbed the key from her, apologizing and bowing over and over until it almost seemed like a joke.

Without looking back at Hyeim who was definitely stifling a laugh, Sehyoon ran to the elevators and pressed the button. He needed to get out of here now. He was never good with people, and the added pressure from his boss did not help him in the slightest. 

The elevator door opened after what felt like an eternity, but was more realistically about five seconds. He clambered in, pressing the UP button like his life depended on it. Finally, after the doors were closed and Sehyoon was alone, he backed up to the wall and sunk down the wall until he was seated on the floor of the elevator. How incredibly charming he had been today.

The elevator doors opened to reveal a hallway with five doors, each of them numbered. Sehyoon looked down at the key, attached to a gold keychain engraved with **ROOM 02**. Almost all of the rooms on the floor were empty, which he knew by looking at all of the keys downstairs. He did hear some noise from the door marked **ROOM 01** , but didn’t bother to stick around in case someone thought he was a creep or something.

Sehyoon found Room 2 very quickly, unlocking the door and making his way into his home for the next few days. 

He settled on the bed, looking around at the room he was stuck in. Considering his first impression of the lobby, it could be a lot worse than it was. It had a bed and a dresser with a television on it, a desk in the corner by the window, and a small bathroom. It’s about all he could ask for in a motel.

Sehyoon moved to the desk and put his bag down on top of it. Opening it and peering inside, Sehyoon grabbed his personal PC and opened it, preparing himself for the long hours of work ahead to finish Yurin’s spreadsheets. 

He opened his inbox and started taking a look at messages he’d miss, but stopped after reading the first one. He sighed, closing the laptop and staring out the window to his left. 

Outside the snow was gathering on the ground slowly but surely, and the falling snow that passed his window reminded him that, yes, he was spending what was meant to be the most cheerful time of year stuck in a motel room, working his ass off to finish more work than he should be allowed to do by himself. Sehyoon heaved another sigh. Suddenly, he was tired of thinking at all.

Sehyoon unlocked his phone once more and returned to his text messages, but this time checked his conversation with his sister. She still hadn’t responded to the message he sent days ago, telling her that he wouldn’t be able to make it to her house for Christmas because something had come up last second. He hated to disappoint her by missing Christmas for the second year in a row, but Sehyoon knew that she understood why. This job was as important to her as it was to him.

“Oh nevermind”, Sehyoon said out loud to himself, locking the phone and tossing it onto the bed. He didn’t want to think about his sister right now. It would only depress him further.

Sinking deeper into the desk chair, Sehyoon reopened his laptop and got to work.

*****************************************************************************************************************

Morning sunlight beamed through the open doors of the Motel 5 Express as Donghun slowly walked into the lobby, stopping to take stock of the room before him. It definitely was not the best looking place in town. He knew of many much cleaner locations in the area. However his options were limited right now - not by capacity, but by predictability. It was not predictable that he would end up in a dusty motel meant to trap tourists who didn’t book a regular hotel room in time. And the last thing Donghun wanted to be right now was predictable.

He saw Hyeim behind the front counter, who was suddenly alert at the presence of someone else in the building. If he was assuming correctly, he would be the first person to show up today. Nobody ever comes to a motel in the middle of the day. He also assumed he’d be the last to check in, which was very much okay with him. Donghun was eager for alone time.

“Hi there, welcome to the Motel 5! Can I get a reservation started for you?”, the woman almost yelled, beaming at him from her place across the room.

Donghun took the hint to approach the counter, satisfied with the concept of staying here even if he would have to pretend he wasn’t disgusted. “Yeah, thank you.”

“Amazing! Let me just open a new file and we will get things started for you!” The woman spoke enthusiastically, and it annoyed the hell out of Donghun. He knew it was her job to be overly friendly, and Donghun knew she wasn’t doing anything to personally offend him. He was just an asshole right now, that’s all. And unfortunately for her, he didn’t plan on changing that for anyone yet.

Donghun watched the woman type, and heard her mumble, “Check in. December 21st. 9am.” She turned to look at him, and if she was confused as to why he was staring at her, she didn’t mention it. She kept that same customer service smile. “Okay, can I get your name?” 

“It’ll be under Lee Donghun.” He looked down at his bag he’d placed by his feet, wondering whether there was enough in there to last him for…. _How long would he be here?_ Donghun suddenly realized he truly hadn’t planned a timeline for the next little while. 

As if Hyeim could read his mind, she turned back to him quickly after inputting his name. “And how long are you planning on staying with us?”

“I don’t know”, Donghun said, uncertain of whether that was an acceptable answer or not.

Clearly, the latter was correct. Hyeim raised her eyebrows. “Well, I have to...put in a checkout day.”

“I really don’t know. Can I stay indefinitely?”

Hyeim’s eyebrows shot up impossibly further than they already had. Regular guests never had this problem, Donghun assumed. And so what? If he was giving her business, what’s the problem with staying here for a while?

“Well I guess so… but is there a day I can put in just to fill the space?”

Donghun heaved a sigh, tired of the question he couldn’t answer. It was like a taunt, like she was shoving the fact that he was confused and borderline afraid right in his face.

“I don’t care what date you put down. Put down next Christmas for all I care. I’ll be here for a while”, he snapped. 

A pause filled the space between them, Hyeim visibly tense and Donghun trying to calm his anger.

Finally, Hyeim typed something that Donghun couldn’t read. She turned to him.

“Christmas 2021 it is.”

“Thanks…”, Donghun mumbled, placing his hands in his coat pocket and hanging his head.

Donghun heard the sound of metal being hit together, and he looked up to see Hyeim holding a gold key out for him.

“Room 1 is open for you. First reservation of the day”, she smiled.

“Oh, so this place is just as empty as I thought”, he started, staring at her slowly falling smile. “Good.”

Hyeim laughed warily, clearly trying to ignore Donghun’s attitude. He internally slapped himself for not putting up some sort of filter today. He had to admit, he could be a lot nicer than he currently was. But _“could”_ is the key word, not _“should”._

“So I’ll just need an emergency contact and a credit card number”, Hyeim explained, wisely choosing to look at the computer screen again instead of Donghun’s permanent frown. 

Donghun began digging through the pockets of his jeans in search of his wallet. He left the other contents on the counter in front of him: his phone, a sticky note with the motel’s name written on it, and some various gum wrappers and other things he’d meant to throw away. He got to his wallet quickly, digging through the mess inside as quickly as he could to find the right card.

He was interrupted by Hyeim’s voice cutting through the silence. “Cute cat! Is he yours?”

Donghun looked up, trying to understand what she’d meant, before he looked down at his phone and realized he accidentally left a photo of Hae in the case where it had been for the past month.

“Oh no, she’s not mine. My brother’s…”, he trailed off quickly. 

He told himself he wouldn’t think about his personal life too much while he was here, instead, using the time to pretend he didn’t exist or had suddenly fallen off the edge of the Earth. _But_ , he thought, _I guess a cat isn’t a big deal, right?_

“Awww she’s adorable. Look at her little face!”, Hyeim exclaimed, reaching to pull the phone closer to her. Donghun’s hand reached the device first, moving it back into his pocket. He glared at Hyeim, not letting up even as she looked away from him.

“Can you not touch my things please?”

“Yeah, I’m sorry. That wasn’t professional”, she remarked, laughing a bit by the end.

“Is it funny?”

Hyeim looked up. Donghun was still glaring.

“No it’s not. Sorry, sir.”

Donghun blinked and took a moment to breathe. He was definitely stepping out of line. There was no reason to be this rude.

“No worries. Sorry, I’m just… sort of in a weird place. I’m a bit more aggressive than usual”, he thought out loud, finally grasping the credit card he was looking for. “Here’s my credit card.”

Hyeim nodded and started typing the numbers on the card. She continued typing as Donghun recited his phone number.

Hyeim had stopped typing, but her eyes were still scanning the screen. Donghun could have sworn he saw her look at him from the corner of her eye, before returning her gaze to the screen in front of her.

“Okay, one last question”, she started, leaning back in her chair and turning her full attention back to the front. “Reason for the visit?”

“Sorry?” Donghun was sure that he heard wrong.

“The reason you’re staying here. What is it?”

Donghun scoffed, turning his head in confusion. What kind of question is that?

“Why the hell do you need to know that to book me a room? Will you kick me out if I answer wrong?”

Hyeim’s eyes widened. “No no, we can’t do that. It’s just, uh… protocol. Yeah.” She pointed to a blank space on the screen, then looked back at him. “There’s a box for the answer right here.”

“Really?” Donghun crossed his arms. He was having a hard time believing her.

The two held eye contact for what felt like an entire minute before Hyeim caved.

“Okay nevermind, you don’t need to answer that.”

“Why the change? Oh right, because it was never a requirement in the first place?”

“I’m sorry, I…”, she didn’t finish her thought, reaching for the stack of paper beside her instead. She placed the paper in front of him, looking as though she were about to explain them as if the word **CONTRACT** in bold letters didn’t give it away.

He cut her off before she started to talk again by grabbing a pen from her side of the desk and signing without reading. Donghun turned the contract to face a frozen Hyeim, grabbing the brochure she was holding in her hand.

“Um… okay. Good.”

“Can I go?” Donghun was impatient to get upstairs, even though he had no plans.

“Sure…”, Hyeim started, but as she watched Donghun pick up his key and his duffel bag, she reached her arm out. “Wait, before you go!”

Donghun stopped mid-stride, looking at her.

“I was saying before… that I’m sorry about being invasive like that. I guess”, she paused, brushing the hair from in front of her face and pouting in thought, “I was curious about you?”

Donghun turned his whole body to face her. He wasn’t sure if his face was displaying it, but that was not what he was expecting to hear.

“You walked in here and looked all mysterious and everything… and then all of your responses were super vague. I guess I just thought you had a cool story”, she finished.

Donghun nodded, looking down at his feet. Then, without a word, he turned on his heels and walked toward the elevator. 

Stopping in front of the doors, he reached for the button to call one of the elevators. He paused, looking over his shoulder at Hyeim who was tapping away at her computer. He smirked.

“Hey”, he called, watching her head lift and stare at him. Judging by the look on her face, she had expected him to be gone.

“Yes?”

“Just for your information”, he began to speak as his smirk flew off his face. “People won’t like it when you’re nosy. It’s a good way to lose the few customers that plan on stopping by.”

Donghun could almost see the gears in her head turn, trying to figure out whether that was advice or an insult. He thought it was both, but he wasn’t even completely sure. His lack of filter today was just as confusing to him as to everyone around him.

“And one more thing”, he continued to talk before she could get a word in. He smiled, the first real smile he’d shown her since he arrived at the motel. She smiled in response. Just as he expected her to. “I do have a cool story.”

“Oh really?”, she leaned toward him a bit. “And what’s that?”

 _Oh no_ , he thought. _She really believed he was being friendly with her._

“I killed someone.”

And with a final wave, he pressed the button in front of him and entered the elevator without looking back at what he could only assume was Hyeim’s shocked or horrified face.

Once the elevator doors closed and he was alone, Donghun laughed like a maniac, steadying himself by putting his hands on his knees. He didn’t know he had that in him right now, but he was impressed with himself nonetheless. 

The doors opened as Donghun stood up, wiping the tears from his eyes. He stepped outside and turned left toward the rest of the hall, but was met with the most unpleasant of views. 

His room. Right next to the elevator he just left. And bordered on the other side by yet another elevator. He gaped, staring at the setup in front of him.

Of course she would do this. Donghun was shocked that she hadn’t done anything in response to his attitude back in the lobby, but as it turns out, she did have a revenge plot. A room between the elevators, while every other room is empty. Checkmate.

He entered Room 1, trying to think optimistically. Maybe this room would be different. Maybe the old appearance of the building was just a facade. Maybe-

**HHHRHRRRHRHRR#$%#^$ &%%$^?#$**

The sound of squeaking metal filled the room as the elevator he arrived in returned to the lobby. The sound was almost unbearably loud, and Donghun had to cover his ears, squinting his eyes closed.

Finally, once the silence set in again, Donghun moved his hands away from his ears and slumped onto the bed. Oh yeah, this was going to be a really fun stay.

 _Maybe this isn't a disaster_ , he thought. Nobody else was here right now, so nobody but him would be using the elevator. And if anyone else did arrive, he could maybe convince them to just use the stairs instead. This motel was only two floors after all - who would be so inconvenienced by only walking up one flight of stairs? Donghun hoped that any guests that followed would take the stairs route, for the sake of his sleep and his sanity.

Donghun shook his head, trying to get himself to focus on the task at hand. He had something he needed to do immediately, something he had been itching to do since he left the house in the middle of the night. He stood up, carrying his bag into the bathroom and closing the door. The lock clicked. Just in case.

Donghun unzipped the bag, reaching in to find the tool he was looking for. His fingers brushed against something sharp. _Bingo._

Out of the bag, he pulled a pair of fabric scissors. They weren't the best quality, but they would get the job done just fine.

Donghun leaned forward, inspecting himself in the mirror.

He wasn’t shocked that Hyeim believed that stupid lie. He looked about as exhausted and washed up as a typical murderer in a drama. Not the rich psychopath type, but the man-on-the-brink-of-a-breakdown type. His hair was the worst of it. He had dyed it blonde months ago, and his dark brown roots were almost three inches thick at this point. It had gotten so long, in fact, that it was tied back into a bun on the back of his head.

It wasn’t a bad look. Frankly, he didn’t care about his looks too much. He had only grown out his hair because… he didn’t like to think about why. But he still did, without being able to stop himself. 

They were always asking him to do it, telling him how stunning he’d look with a little ponytail on the back of his head. He never believed them and wasn’t the biggest fan at the time, but he decided to grow it out as a surprise for them. And once he could finally tie it in a ponytail… needless to say, they were ecstatic. They basically begged him to take pictures of his new look, and he’d kept growing it out since then.

 _Not anymore_. He raised the fabric scissors to his roots, holding them there and pausing. For some reason, he couldn’t make the commitment. Why? Why was this hard? It’s just hair, it grows back.

After several moments of hovering with the scissors right next to his scalp, Donghun groaned angrily, throwing the scissors into the sink.

“So maybe I like it”, Donghun whispered to himself in the mirror. He wished the Donghun on the other side would take the first step - grab the scissors, cut the hair, and give the real Donghun a slap in the face to wake him up from whatever was making him hesitate.

Several minutes passed. Finally, the door unlocked and Donghun stepped out of the bathroom. He touched the back of his head, no longer feeling the familiar lump of hair that used to be there. 

As a compromise with himself, he didn’t cut it all off. Ironically he’d grown to love longer hair, but refused to keep it too long. Not with everything that meant to him. He cut much of the length so that his hair sat just over his ears, but continued to cover his neck in the back. Still long, but there was no way he could tie it back anymore. Thank god for that.

He dropped his bag onto the single bed, digging through the contents in search of something else. After a moment of finding only a week’s worth of clothes, Donghun pulled out exactly what he was looking for. A book. The words “THE GREAT GATSBY” stood out in bright red letters on the dark cover.

He had been meaning to start this book for a while, and finally, there was enough time in front of him to just sit down and read for a while. He wanted nothing more after the week he had.

He sat on the windowsill, he propped his right foot on the other end of the window frame to keep him balanced while his left foot dangled off the edge. He opened to where he had left off the first time he tried to start the novel, but was distracted by something passing by his window.

Donghun looked outside, mouth gaping as he watched the first snowfall of the year begin to float from the sky and cover the ground. Donghun had always loved winter. Back when he was young and living in Suwon-si with his family, he and his brother always spent as much time as they could playing in the snow together. As he grew up, his parents thought his love for the snow would fade now that he had no reason to play in it. But his love lingered, and Donghun got through the winter semesters of high school and college with the help of a calming view while he studied. Now, as he sat against the windowsill of a motel in Jeju, at 27 years old, he was still in love with it. He felt the weight of the last week and the apprehension he’d been feeling ever since he arrived at the Motel 5 lift from his shoulders. Maybe things could go back to normal again. Maybe the overwhelming joy within that little boy in Suwon-si was still possible for him.

Donghun closed the book, dropping it to the floor unconsciously. His gaze never left the snow, and his mind took him on a trip through his past, a journey reminding himself of everything that went right and everything that went horribly wrong.

He didn’t notice that it had gotten dark until his eyes were closing as he gave in to exhaustion, his bed untouched.

*****************************************************************************************************************

Hyeim looked around the room, suddenly aware of how long she’d been sitting at her desk. She checked her phone. 3:35am.

“My god”, she mumbled. She had to be up in two hours to re-open the doors for the half of her guests that were leaving. Right, the bickering couple and the normal one. The loner was staying here until Christmas, she reminded herself. And the mystery…

Hyeim was tired of thinking about him. She had to assume the murder was a joke, but looking back at him and how he acted… maybe it wasn’t? A chill ran through her body. She couldn’t scare herself right now, not when she needed to sleep. 

Hyeim stood up, stumbling to the couch that covered half of a bookshelf on the other end of the room. Space was limited, so this was the best she could possibly do without reaching out to her higher-ups to ask about an upgrade. And she knew that would never happen.

She fell onto the cushions, grabbing the blanket that hung over the armrest. As the room faded to darkness, with the sound of freezing rain hitting the window, Hyeim sighed and thought once more of her five guests. _Can’t wait until tomorrow when they’ll be gone… or at least, until Christmas 2021._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok, here we are!!
> 
> i hope you've got a bit of an idea as to where each of our 5 guys are right now... even if it's not the whole picture. the next update will get into the next day at the M5E, and we'll see a lot of interactions between everyone... lots of new things! i hope you're all excited!
> 
> if you want to say anything, feel free to leave a comment or find me here:
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/pkjuns)  
> [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/pkjuns)
> 
> warning for anyone going to twitter - i AM a stan account, not a writing one. there'll be some live tweeting of writing, but for the most part just my chaotic self :)
> 
> ANYWAYS! that's all. have a good night! an early happy new year and a very happy yuchan day to you all <3


	3. Day 1 (December 22nd)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello everyone!! sorry for the delay in bringing you this chapter! i wish i could put these out more often, but for now (and especially with classes starting up for me in a few days), it might be a week or two between chapters... we will see!
> 
> BEFORE YOU READ -- i posted this thread for anyone who enjoys visualizing while they read (totally self-serving, i do it all the time). it's a thread of my concept photos/the looks I have in mind when I write each perspective. you can see it [here](https://twitter.com/pkjuns/status/1345064866160254977?s=20)
> 
> i'll check in at the end of the chapter, so for now please enjoy :)))

The sound in the room was overwhelming. Children yelled and cried in every corner and any moment of potential quiet, no matter how short, was filled with the sounds of toys that talked or educational programs on a 28” television mounted on the furthest wall. For most of the children, it was impossible to even hear themselves think. But for the four year old boy with the unusually bright pink hair, all he could hear was the sound coming from his feet.

He stomped over and over on a long rug of piano tiles, and with each stomp came a different note that he couldn’t name but loved to hear. In truth, his music was the biggest contributor to the noise in the room, but he wouldn’t want it any other way because his toddler brain thought it sounded like a masterpiece. 

His attempt at a piano melody was accompanied by a beat, thanks to a beaming three year old boy with striking green hair sitting at a plastic drum set nearby. It was the boy’s second day at daycare, and after yesterday’s tantrum that lasted for hours and ruined everyone’s naptime, all of the other kids found it easier to ignore him rather than pretend to tolerate him. But the two bright haired boys quickly bonded over their ability to make the other kids annoyed, and their friendship bloomed in no time. Now, they were performance buddies and didn’t leave the daycare’s music station without being forcibly dragged away.

The pink hair boy continued to jump until he started to drag his feet in exhaustion. He dropped to the ground. sitting down cross legged on two keys at once. The resulting sound was atrocious, but neither of them seemed to notice or care.

“Chan”, the pink haired boy yelled to his friend who kept hitting drums in a haphazard rhythm. “I want to do this more.”

“More?” The boy stopped drumming, pouted and cocked his head to the side.

“Yeah! With you!”

“With me?”

“Yeah!!”

The two boys giggled together for a moment before Chan started to hit the drums again. Before long both musicians were stomping and drumming together. That is, until Chan’s hands suddenly stilled with a dull gaze.

“Kwan”, he said, keeping his gaze on the drums in front of him.

Kwan continued to stomp, unaware of his friend’s behaviour. “What?”

“I don’t.”

Kwan stopped his antics and twirled around to send his friend a quizzical look. “Huh?”

Chan continued to stare at his drums, while Kwan waited for an explanation as to what his friend was talking about. Of course, it was most likely a vocabulary barrier. They ran into them a lot, but Byeongkwan still respected Chan and his lower reading level enough to work through it with him.

Without warning, Chan looked up and directly into Kwan’s eyes, a motion that made the older boy immediately uneasy. 

“I don’t want to perform with you”, he said, his voice suddenly dropping many octaves but somehow still sounding like the Chan he knew so well. Was this a different Chan, different than the young cheerful boy before him?

Kwan’s face dropped, the feeling of unease settling in his gut and beginning to move through all parts of his body. “Why?”

“Because your music sucks”, Chan stood up. “Nobody can stand to listen, but you’re clinging to it like a kid who’s afraid of losing his mother. But you know what, Kwan?”

Chan walked over the piano tiles one by one, but the sound from each one lingered even after the pressure left the key. Meanwhile, Byeongkwan was immobilized by the unease that had now found a way into every inch of his body. This wasn’t right. This wasn’t how the day was supposed to go. They had spent the rest of the day drawing album covers and coming up with names for their band… hadn’t they? 

By the time Chan stood directly in front of Byeongkwan, glaring at him with a resentment never witnessed before, the noise in the room was unbearable.

“It’s about time you leave this behind and **grow up**.”

***************************************************************************************

Byeongkwan gasped, opening his eyes and trying hard to figure out where he was. An unfamiliar ceiling with a broken light fixture… an unfamiliar bedroom… and a familiar man leaning over him with wide concerned eyes.

“Kwan? You alright?”

Byeongkwan focused his gaze on Yuchan, who was sitting on the edge of the bed next to him, his hand placed gently onto Byeongkwan’s leg over the duvet. He definitely just woke up, apparent from the mess of hair sitting in a tangled mess on top of his head and the toothbrush dangling from his mouth.

Right. He was in a motel, waiting to catch a flight to Tokyo. He wasn’t four years old and back in daycare. He was here, and he was living the life that dream Yuchan said he wouldn’t get to live. _Take that_ , he thought to nobody in particular.

“Yeah, I’m fine”, Byeongkwan answered as he sat up on his elbows, the rise and fall of his chest beginning to slow down. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“I don’t know, you were breathing pretty heavily and humming something.”

“Something? One of our songs?” Byeongkwan questioned as he reached for his phone that was charged on the side table, checking the time. Through the several cracks running across the screen he could make out the time _5:31 am_. The life of an idol -- a life of early, early mornings.

“I don’t think so. It just sounded like noise”, Yuchan mumbled, toothbrush threatening to slip from his mouth with each word. “It doesn’t matter. We need to get ready and head out if we’re going to book a flight for today.”

Byeongkwan narrowed his eyes as he watched Yuchan stand up and stumble to the bathroom as if there was nothing wrong with what he’d just said. He couldn’t have heard that right. He cleared his throat loudly, which caught Yuchan’s attention enough to stop in his tracks and slowly turn his head to meet Byeongkwan’s doubting eyes.

“What do you mean book it? I thought you already booked it for this morning... you know, like I asked you to do yesterday.”

Yuchan froze, blinking at Byeongkwan as if he was speaking a foreign language. A sheepish grin slowly spread across his face. “Well, funny thing about that actually.”

“Oh my god”, Byeongkwan sat up, suddenly much more awake than he had been moments ago. “So we have no flight?”

“But it’s fine!” Yuchan walked back toward Byeongkwan with wide eyes, arms out defensively. “It’s not a huge deal! We can just book it now or when we get to the airport”, he insisted, gesturing wildly to an airport that wasn't there as if being more exaggerated would prove his point.

“But who knows if we’ll even get one if we’re booking so late! Yuchan, I trusted you to do this”, Byeongkwan argued, standing up from his position under the duvet to look at his friend evenly.

Yuchan paused, looking at his feet without a word. Only then did Byeongkwan remember the argument they had yesterday. He wasn’t planning on talking about it, instead choosing to treat it like every other argument and let it simmer down with time. He cleared his throat, walking past Yuchan toward his suitcase next to the bathroom door.

“It’s fine, we’ll just book it when we wait for our cab in the lobby.”

Yuchan’s gaze burned on his back as he dug slowly through the suitcase in search of something comfortable to wear for the flight.

“That’s cool with me”, Yuchan answered, and Byeongkwan could hear the smile in his tone. He waited until the younger re-entered the bathroom to get ready before finally turning around to face the empty room.

He knew that he was being overly aggressive these days but, for some reason, couldn’t explain why. Maybe it was the stress of a tour weighing him down. Yeah, that was probably it. Byeongkwan refused to acknowledge that his dream had any meaning besides their desire to keep making good music exactly as they were. He was just scaring himself -- the thought that their fans would be faking interest in the band seemed too far-fetched. Maybe this meant there was something else at play, a reason why he had to be taken to childhood with Yuchan to understand it.

 _Yuchan_. But... he'd never shown any disinterest in their albums. In fact, he was the one who was always most excited about releasing them when the big day came. So what could be the problem?

Byeongkwan let his dream and his fight with Yuchan disappear into the depths of his mind as he changed out of his pajamas into his flight attire. 

Neither him nor Yuchan put too much effort into looking good at airports, even though the expectation was very clear for them to do so. Just like other idols, Byeongkwan and Yuchan attracted plenty of fansites waiting to document their looks to thousands of fans on SNS. Not that it mattered too much to Byeongkwan either way. Whether they were the biggest idol group in the country or they had just enough fans to fill a hole in the wall venue, he would continue wearing sweatpants to the airport and nobody could stop him.

The bathroom door opened to reveal a fully dressed Yuchan, just as casual as Byeongkwan was. 

“Okay, I’m done! Take your time getting ready”, he said with a smile as he attempted to fit through the door with his suitcase in hand. Byeongkwan watched him struggle for a moment, hiding a smile behind a fake yawn. It wasn’t long before he made it through, choosing the obvious route of putting himself before the bag. He dropped it next to the doorway, falling back onto the nearest bed.

“I’ll be quick”, Byeongkwan called, moving toward the bathroom and shutting the door behind him.

It only took a few minutes for Byeongkwan to finish getting ready for the day. It would have taken even less time if it weren’t for Yuchan leaving the room a hot mess for Byeongkwan to clean up for himself. He grabbed a towel and stuffed it into his already too full suitcase as a reward for his hard work, before moving himself and his bag back into the main room.

“Good to go?” Yuchan mumbled. Byeongkwan eyed him up and down, scoffing under his breath as he watched the man very clearly playing a mobile game instead of getting a head start on their flight.

“Yeah. Let’s hit it.”

The duo left Room 5, locking the door behind them for what they assumed would be the last time. As they slowly made their way to the elevator and called it to the upper floor, Byeongkwan pulled out his phone and opened the Naver app.

It was impossible to ignore Yuchan staring at him from the corner of his view.

“What?” Byeongkwan asked, refusing to look up while beginning to type in the search bar.

“Are you trying to book the flight right now?”

“Of course I am, it needs to get done.”

Yuchan smirked. “Uh huh… and how is that elevator service going to work out for you?”

Byeongkwan stopped typing and considered his answer. He could be his current self, someone who would immediately shut his friend down and tell him that obviously, he would just look for it again once they were on the ground floor. But Byeongkwan wasn’t happy with that version of him right now. He turned to meet Yuchan’s smirk.

“It won’t stop me.”

Yuchan caught on as quickly as expected with rising eyebrows. “Oh, it won’t?”

“Nope. When have I let anything stop me ever?”

Yuchan’s smirk started to break into laughter but he caught it quickly, morphing it quickly into a serious frown.

“So you’ll defy the laws of science… because you’re built different.”

“Absolutely I will”, Byeongkwan whispered, his gaze just as serious as Yuchan’s.

The two stared at each other intensely until the elevator doors opened in front of them. The sound caused Yuchan’s serious frown to break yet again, but he couldn’t catch it this time before he descended into a fit of laughter, with Byeongkwan followed almost immediately. The two laughed wildly together, not caring that the joke hadn't even been funny, or that they were in a motel hallway at 5:49 in the morning.

It was the closing of the doors that broke Byeongkwan out of his fit. With a strangled yell, he caught the door before it closed and tugged at it to open. This undoubtedly made Yuchan laugh even harder, crouching to the floor and hiding his face in his hands.

Byeongkwan fought the urge to join him, suddenly remembering where they were and where they needed to be. He tugged on Yuchan’s shirt and dragged him, along with their suitcases, into the elevator.

Byeongkwan let out another few giggles as the doors closed. He looked at Yuchan, who was almost fully recovered as well. Byeongkwan couldn’t help but smile. Things with Yuchan had been so tense for so long, and even though he could clearly tell that a lot of the bickering came from his nitpicking, he couldn’t feel more uncomfortable with it. 

These moments with Yuchan were the best kind. Moments where the duo weren’t bandmates or coworkers, but were just two best friends who met decades ago and found their passion together. 

Sometimes he wished that they could just be friends and forget about their careers for a while, but he knew that was an impossible feat. They were so in love with being able to live a life full of music that they would lose their minds if they couldn’t perform. And maybe that wasn’t the best balance, but it was what they had. And just like dream Yuchan had told him, he had to grow up and stop living in the past.

The elevator doors creaked open and the pair walked out, barely holding on to their several bags in an awkward and unfortunate balancing act. They moved in time with each other like choreography, fearing that separating would break apart the makeshift web they made with their arms to keep the bags in the air. Byeongkwan was grateful they were the only ones in the lobby; the shuffling, bickering and shouts of panic when something seemed to slip were borderline embarrassing.

They settled in an open room next to the lobby, dropping their bags (gently, unlike yesterday) to the ground with a pained grunt. 

Byeongkwan took the opportunity to look around the space. They’d not spent a moment here since they arrived, and Byeongkwan was more than happy about that. The aesthetic was similar to the rest of the motel -- trying too hard to seem put together when it was very clearly falling apart. The wallpaper and carpeting matched the putrid beiges in the lobby, except they were accompanied by half a dozen equally putrid dark green armchairs in the corners of the room, set up in pairs of two. Tables covered much of the open space along the walls, loaded with what he could only assume was a pitiful attempt at complimentary breakfast. 

He approached the table carefully. Maybe he could eat quickly instead of having to rely on airport food, which was basically a game of vomit roulette. He took a closer look at the food that was left for them. Danishes that barely passed as within their expiration date, fruit that had most definitely not been washed or even touched in a few days, a selection of tea bags thrown messily into a styrofoam cup, and a coffee machine that looked straight out of 1988…. He decided against it. The airport was probably fine.

A buzzing in his pocket quickly distracted Byeongkwan from the disaster before him. He pulled out his phone and was greeted by the contact name **MANAGER** flashing across the screen. Oh great. They were having this conversation now.

Byeongkwan heaved a sigh and sat down in the nearest armchair, the one facing away from the doorway to the elevators. Bracing himself, he pressed the green button labelled **ANSWER** and held the phone carefully to his ear.

“Hello?”

“Byeongkwan!” The woman’s voice on the other end of the line was, although stressful to hear, almost welcome because of her familiarity. “Tell us what’s going on. Can we book your hotel reservation with us now?”

“Uhh-”, he paused, glancing at Yuchan who was sitting on top of one of their bags and had once again opened a mobile game rather than checking for a flight. Byeongkwan grimaced, pulling his shoe off of his foot. In any other situation, he would be mature about this. But, as he aimed at his friend’s chest and launched, he threw maturity out the window for the sake of getting away from this awful place. Nothing wrong with playing a bit dirty.

Yuchan fell backward onto the floor, looking at his friend with exasperation.

“You have a mouth. Please use it”, he explained, and if sarcasm could hurt, it would feel like a million shoes being thrown back at Byeongkwan.

Byeongkwan pointed to his phone and then to Yuchan, trying to mentally communicate with him to find a flight as quickly as he could. Luckily, 20 years together taught them how to read each other without even having to say anything out loud. Yuchan nodded, setting his phone upright and furrowing his eyebrows as he began his search.

“Byeongkwan? What’s going on?”

Byeongkwan blinked, completely forgetting that he was on the phone with his manager at all.

“Hi, sorry about that. We’re booking a flight right now, and I know it’s late-”

“You’re booking now? You’re at least at the airport, right?”

Byeongkwan looked around at the greasy wallpaper, the empty armchairs and the tables that surrounded them. Everything in the room was taunting him with their presence, reminding him that no, he was not in the unusual comfort of an airport waiting area.

“Just getting into our cab in a second.”

He heard a sigh on the other side of the call. Several voices who he recognized as other members of their team were asking questions that were immediately being silenced by the manager’s return to the phone.

“Byeongkwan, we need you here like… now. Setup for the 26th needs to get done today. Rehearsal needs to be tomorrow since the venue is closing on the 24th. We don’t have time to keep waiting.”

“I know, I know...”, he trailed off, his head leaning into his free hand as he squinted up at Yuchan. He looked even more confused than when he last checked on him 30 seconds ago. Maybe Byeongkwan would have to book the flight after all. As expected.

 _No_ , he thought. _Stop doing that. Stop nitpicking him like that._

Byeongkwan took a deep breath and looked away from Yuchan before he could think any more.

“Be here today. That needs to be a guarantee.” His manager’s voice rang in his ears, repeating the word _today_. Of course they’d be there today, there was no question. But somehow, he still felt nerves tearing apart his insides.

“We will. I promise….. And I’m sorry.” Byeongkwan saw Yuchan look up at him curiously then, realizing why he was apologizing, swallowed whatever he was planning on saying and looked to the floor.

“I know it isn’t your fault. It’s not either of your faults. It’s just… annoying that your plane had to be the one to get sidetracked”, their manager sighed, sounds on the other side of the phone giving away that she was pacing, something both he and Yuchan were familiar with as her nervous tick.

“I mean, even if it was you, it wouldn’t have been easy for us.”

She laughed. “At least you guys could have started with the venue though! And I trust you enough to lead, Byeongkwan. You could handle the job and babysit Yuchan too.”

Byeongkwan paused, pondering the next words to leave his mouth. The voice in his head was repeating everything it said earlier -- _leave him alone, don’t be so rude, stop belittling him._ But this was his boss, and he was clearly in her good graces already.

“Yeah, I probably could.”

“You definitely could!” She sounded slightly less annoyed and Byeongkwan thanked himself for going along with her. “Hey listen, I’ll let you go to do your thing. Call us when you land. Today!! Alright?”

“We’ll make it happen.” And with that, Byeongkwan hung up the phone and groaned, leaning back in the armchair and letting his arms hang over the sides.

“How did it go?” Yuchan asked, eyes not leaving the phone screen in front of him.

Byeongkwan groaned again, this time louder. “How do you think it went? She’s mad and wants us there now, which we obviously can’t do… But I had to say yes because what else are we going to tell her? No?”

“Managers can be tough.”

Byeongkwan yelped, sitting up and spinning himself around quickly to face the voice that appeared so suddenly behind him.

The owner of the voice recoiled at the reaction, stepping back with widened eyes behind his thin-framed glasses.

“Oh my god I’m sorry, I didn’t even say hello first or anything”, he rushed out, looking quickly between Byeongkwan and Yuchan.

“Uh, it’s fine I, uh-”, Byeongkwan stuttered, trying to gather his breathing after being so scared by someone who looked…. actually, he was sort of intimidating to look at. Sure, his face made him look rather approachable, and his eyes were about as kind as any eyes could be. But Byeongkwan was very bluntly aware of the difference between the man in front of him wearing a full suit, his hair done professionally, versus himself and Yuchan who looked like they’d just crawled from under their covers and sleep-walked this far into the lobby.

“He’s saying it’s fine”, Yuchan interrupted the stuttering between both men, “but he’s just a bit awkward. No worries, sir.”

“I’m not- Yuchan, I’m really not- He’s joking”, Byeongkwan faltered, desperately trying to sound confident but failing miserably. 

He was expecting the man to make fun of him, matching his somewhat intimidating exterior. Instead, he smiled. “I was just saying that managers can kind of suck. Make you agree to impossible things because it’s either that or get fired, right?”

“I mean, we probably won’t get fired…” Byeongkwan muttered.

The man blinked. Byeongkwan blinked back. Even Yuchan had stopped looking at his phone, choosing to watch the disaster of a conversation right in front of him.

“Well…”, the man started, looking to his feet and rocking between his toes and heels. “I mean, that’s good. I guess I was wrong, maybe that was generalizing…”, he ended with a forced laugh. Both Byeongkwan and Yuchan forced a laugh back, trying so hard to make it through this encounter with everyone’s dignity intact.

“ANYWAYS, um, Yuchan”, Byeongkwan started, turning his back on the stranger who was still awkwardly fidgeting behind him. “The flight.”

Yuchan paused, mouth gaping. It seemed to click a moment later that they weren’t here to talk, but were booking a flight and getting out of here as soon as possible.

“Yeah, so I’m on the site, right?” Yuchan explains as he stands up, walking toward Byeongkwan and squatting right in front of the armchair so both men could see the phone. “And I click this here, which says **Check Available Flights**.”

Yuchan clicks the obviously labelled link and it brings up… nothing. The layout of a list appears but no flights on it. _That’s not right. Not at all_. The sinking feeling Byeongkwan distinctly remembers from his dream returns, sitting volatile in his gut and threatening to overtake him once more.

“Maybe the website is just down right now? I’m sure a bunch of people are booking after last night’s delays”, Byeongkwan reasoned, more for himself than for Yuchan although he would never admit it. He felt the presence of the stranger behind him leave, which lifted a bit of the nervousness off of Byeongkwan’s shoulders, but certainly not enough to be comfortable.

“Maybe that’s it. We should probably just do it there, huh?” Yuchan asked, eyes wide and questioning, very clearly as nervous about this as Byeongkwan was pretending not to be.

He was the older of the two of them. He needed to remain calm right now. He gave Yuchan a nod and a smile. “Yeah I think so. Just call the cab, we’ll do it there.”

“Don’t call a cab.”

Both men turned toward the lobby where they saw the stranger staring out the front door of the motel. They glanced at each other in confusion before staring back at the stranger with narrowed eyes.

“And why shouldn’t we?” Byeongkwan asked, standing up. Yuchan followed almost immediately.

“Well, they’ll never get here”, the man continued. Something in his voice sounded more airy than it had when he had first spoken to Byeongkwan. He sounded… dazed? Why would he be dazed?

“And WHY is that? There’s got to be an answer in that head of yours”, Byeongkwan walked toward him, fully intending to stare him down and try to intimidate him as much as Byeongkwan had previously been.

Suddenly he turned to face the duo, ushering them both over. Byeongkwan stopped in his tracks. Well, the plan for intimidation was a bust. Yuchan caught up with him and dragged him further towards the door to the motel, and that’s when they saw it.

The exterior of the motel was the same as where it had been yesterday when all three men checked in. No stores had changed, the bicycle illegally parked on the sidewalk was still there, and no catastrophic event had hit the street. Well, they had to assume as much. Because they actually couldn’t see the street anymore.

In place of the sidewalk outside was a thick 3-ft layer of snow. The bicycle’s handlebars were barely visible, the streets empty of the few cars that would usually drive by.

All men were frozen in place, the impact of the snow hitting them even inside an insulated building. 

Byeongkwan was the first to move, approaching the door with slow and careful steps. He pushed the door outward. Or at least, attempted to push it. There was no movement. He tried again, pushing harder. No give.

He turned his head slowly, facing his friend and the stranger behind him who both wore similar expressions to what Byeongkwan imagined was also lingering on his own face -- deep dread for what was to come.

****************************************************************************************************

When the elevator doors opened, Junhee was expecting silence. It wasn’t too far-fetched -- it was 6am at a motel three days before Christmas. Any couples that decided to show up for the night would still be knocked out from whatever activities they pursued the night before, and any travellers would have already left for their flights home before today. 

_Wouldn’t a flight home for Christmas be nice? What a foreign concept_ , he considered, as the elevator lowered from the upper floor to the lobby. Junhee wouldn’t be one to ever experience it, and he wasn’t sure whether that made him feel superior to the rest of the world or like he was missing out. Although he would never say it aloud, he knew it was mostly the latter. But sometimes, as Junhee learned over many years of questioning and inevitable settling, the cards you’re dealt are often the hand you were meant to get. Trying to change them wouldn’t do anything but stress you out even further.

 _Wow. A bit too deep for 6 in the morning, isn’t it?_ Regardless of his own personal struggle, the fact remained that at this time of day, a motel lobby should be empty.

So when the elevator doors opened with a loud creak and the lobby echoed with two voices and a loud banging noise, he was caught off guard to say the least.

He hurried past the front desk, bag rolling behind him with each step, where he was met with three figures huddled around the front door of the building.

Junhee slowed his pace, trying not to alarm the group that were very clearly stressed about something judging by their body language. Two of the men had their backs turned, covering the third from Junhee’s direct line of sight. Their heads were close together in quiet conversation about who knows what. 

At least, it was quiet when one of them spoke. The man on the left, Junhee observed, appeared as if he were just moving his lips in silence. But the man on the right, the tall one with the obnoxiously bright hair…

“Oh come on! There’s creative solutions to problems like these, you just need the mind to think of them!!” he bellowed, giving the other man a punch in the arm and causing him to stumble a step backward.

“I mean...”, the man on the left started, the first words Junhee could audibly hear from him. “What’s on your mind?”

“Okay hold on. BYEONGKWAN! Come listen to this!!”

As both men turned to look toward the doors, Junhee was finally able to see the third man who he could only assume was Byeongkwan. He was in the middle of a lunge, grabbing his elbow with one arm and holding it behind his head, when he turned to face the others.

“One second. Just one more shot.”

“Kwan, it’s pointless. Please just-”

Without letting his friend finish, Byeongkwan barreled toward one of the glass doors shoulder-first and knocked into it. But it didn’t open.

Junhee narrowed his eyes. He was certain that he pulled the door open from the outside earlier that morning, so why didn’t it open after being pushed from the inside? His eyes turned from the man who was now grabbing at his shoulder in pain to the door behind him.

He couldn’t help the startled sound that left his throat when he saw the snow. More snow than he had ever seen in his entire life, even back home in Suncheon. Everything below the level of the door handle was completely covered, the only objects poking through the field of white being the buildings that lined the other end of the road.

His attention was turned quickly back to the three men who were now staring bewildered at him. Oh right, he’d just been standing there and staring at them without a word like an utter creep. Junhee was no good with awkward encounters, and he already knew that trying to talk his way out of this was going to end poorly. But god, if he wasn’t going to try anyways.

“Sorry, ah- I just… I wasn’t expecting to see people down here”, he said, mentally cursing himself after repeating it back.

Byeongkwan’s grip on his shoulder tightened. “O...kay. So you decided to watch us. Can we help you with something?”

“No, I just-uh- I was going to- to- you know, unless you need to do it first, but I was…”, he trailed off, twisting around and pointing at the front desk. “Checking out.”

“Oh, you can go first. But you’re going to have to be the one to break the door down,”, the louder of the two nameless men answered, a giddy grin plastered on his face.

“Yuchan, don’t.” Byeongkwan’s voice was sterner than it had been with Junhee. It made him shiver.

“I’m just trying to lighten the mood”, Yuchan replied, turning to his friend. “Now will you listen to my idea? It’s good, I promise.”

Byeongkwan gazed at his friend, an unreadable look in his eye, before he sighed and trudged closer to him and the other man who was still patiently waiting for his answer. Junhee tried to get the other man’s attention to say hello, but it almost seemed as if the man was avoiding his gaze on purpose.

His thoughts were cut off by Yuchan waving a hand in front of Junhee’s face to grab his attention.

“You can listen too if you want. All hands on deck, you know what I mean?” Yuchan asked, laughing as if what he’d said was worthy of applause.

Junhee blinked, then grinned. He couldn’t help it, the man’s smile was contagious. Plus, he wanted to leave this place not being known as the one who spies on people. Not that it would matter, since nobody in this room would remember each other for too long.

“Alright, let’s hear it”, Junhee encouraged as he stepped closer to the group of three.

Yuchan took a deep breath. “Okay so, I know our options are limited right now. But I was thinking about how other people solve this kind of problem and it hit me…”, Yuchan looked around, taking in the confused but eager reactions of the other men.

“Tennis rackets.”

Junhee’s lips quivered, almost breaking with a laugh at the total drop from expectation. He observed the other two men, shocked to see neither of them sharing in his reaction. Byeongkwan rolled his eyes dramatically, while the other man appeared deep in thought, squinting his eyes and looking fixedly at the floor.

“So… why do we need those?” the man asked.

“Obviously to walk our way to wherever we’re going since there’s no cabs running! Have you never seen someone walk around with those things on their feet before? What are they-”

“Snow shoes.” Yuchan stared at Junhee who now couldn’t help but smile. Yuchan’s attempt to lighten the mood didn’t seem to be working for anyone else except for him, but he was willing to keep it going if it meant reducing the anxiety that was slowly building in his chest.

“Yes. Snow shoes. You’re so on top of this”, Yuchan grinned, hands on his hips and nodding, treating Junhee’s sudden assistance like a life-changing moment.

“So what do you intend we do here, Chan?” Byeongkwan asked, irritation evident in his tone. “You want to scour this motel for a surplus of tennis rackets, which obviously every motel is obligated to have?”

“Absolutely right.”

Byeongkwan huffed. “Do you not hear the sarcasm in my voice? Is anything I’m saying making sense in your head?”

“Oh, I hear it. I just think it’s uncalled for when I’m trying to make everyone feel better!” Yuchan shot back.

The argument went back and forth between the two of them, and Junhee had never felt more out of place. What was he supposed to do here? Let them fight and watch them wordlessly again?

“Do you, uh, do you think we should maybe g-get between them?”

Junhee turned his head to finally meet the eyes of the stranger, who looked about as anxious and awkward as Junhee was feeling. It felt nice knowing he wasn’t alone here.

“I think that might make it worse”, Junhee said, trying to diffuse the tension with a few seconds of nervous laughter.

“Maybe… we just sit this one out”, he proposed, left eyebrow raising in question.

Junhee smiled. “I’d honestly want nothing more.”

A small closed-mouth smile settled on the other man’s face. Junhee considered this a win.

“I never got your name by the way. Those two were pretty eager to share each other’s, but not yours”, Junhee continued, trying his hardest to keep this conversation going. It was either that or go back to listening to the other two men, who were now on the verge of yelling over something Junhee thought was too unimportant.

“Oh yeah, I-I don’t really know them either. We’re- I’m just down here with them sort of by accident, so they wouldn’t know it”, the man explained.

A small silence settled between them. Junhee’s expectant gaze never left the other man. It only took a few seconds before the man’s eyes widened.

“Oh but you asked for my name, sorry... I’m Kim Sehyoon”, he finished sheepishly, lowering his gaze back to the floor. Junhee had a feeling it may not come back to meet his own again.

“Park Junhee. Nice to meet you”, Junhee continued to look at Sehyoon with feeble hope, and just as he imagined, Sehyoon didn’t look back up. He tried not to feel too hurt.

“Oh, a Park! That’s not too shocking. You can kind of see it in your face”, Yuchan calls to him from where he’s stood next to the door. “With some people it’s just obvious, you know? Like, if you saw me on the street, what would you assume my family name was?”

Byeongkwan, caught between Junhee and Yuchan, looked back and forth between them with an exasperated look on his face. “Are we not having a discussion right now?”

“Shh, I paused it for a second. Anyways, what do you think?”

Junhee simply stared at Yuchan, trying to ignore the obviously angered glare he was getting from Byeongkwan. 

“Um… I’m not sure. I don’t think I’m that observant”, he said, suddenly wishing he had kept trying to talk to Sehyoon instead.

“Just a guess! If you get it right, I’ll… probably do nothing special. But you’ll have bragging rights.”

Alright, he’d bite. “Okay, maybe…. Maybe Jang? Or Kang?”

Yuchan let out a high-pitched screech, pointing at him with both hands.

“KANG! I can’t believe you just got that! It’s my nose, right? It gives it away.”

“Actually”, Junhee leaned in closer, staring at Yuchan’s nose. “Yeah I think that was it.”

Byeongkwan shook his head, a smile on his face that didn’t seem to be genuinely happy. “I can’t believe you’re actually entertaining this, can we please get back to-”

A loud creak caused Byeongkwan to stop in his tracks, eyes moving their focus to just behind Junhee’s right shoulder. Yuchan and Sehyoon followed his lead almost immediately, both of their eyes widening. He couldn’t help but turn around to see where the sound had come from.

There, standing in the now open doorway behind the front desk, was the hotel manager. Junhee was never one who consciously judged people upon seeing them, but it was impossible to not form an opinion at the state she was in. Hyeim wore the same outfit as the day before but significantly more wrinkled and slept in. Her hair was in a knot on the side of her head that Junhee assumed used to be a bun, but hadn’t survived to see the light of dawn. Her eye makeup had smeared across her under eyes while she slept, giving her the appearance of comically dark circles that only enhanced how tired she looked. Of course, she looked plenty tired even without them.

The group watched her stumbling through the doorway holding her heels in one hand (Junhee hadn’t even realized she was barefoot… does she walk around this place barefoot often? That’s probably not healthy) and her cell phone in the other. She dropped them both on her desk, took a deep breath, then looked at the four men standing near the front door. Junhee could basically see the fires of hell inside her eyes.

“What’s going on? Why are you banging on the door, what’s the issue?” she slurred, pulling her desk chair back aggressively and falling into it.

Byeongkwan looked bewildered at the question. “The issue? What’s the issue? The ISSUE is that there’s like 10 feet of snow outside and we can’t leave the building! THAT’S the issue”, he fumed, marching toward the front desk with Yuchan following on his heels.

“It’s 3 feet”, she muttered, not even looking at Byeongkwan or Yuchan, choosing instead to focus on turning her laptop on.

“What?”

Hyeim finally met their eyes. Junhee thought he saw Yuchan flinch, but said nothing about it.

“It’s 3 feet. Well, 3 feet and 1 inch actually. Read about it a few minutes ago.”

Byeongkwan chuckled. “Oh, so you knew what the issue was! How could you expect us to not react to something like that?”

“I thought you would. But I didn’t think you would try to break down my very expensive glass doors to push through 50 pounds of snow and ice.”

“Well, what else are we-”

“Byeongkwan”, Junhee rushed up to the counter, placing a hand on the man’s shoulder to stop him. Fighting wasn’t going to get them anywhere, and as much as he himself was annoyed by the manager’s lack of sympathy, they needed her help.

Byeongkwan clearly was not thinking that far ahead. He spun around, grabbed Junhee’s hand on his shoulder and pulled it down. The eye contact they made was incredibly tense, too much for 6 in the morning.

“Get your hands off me. I’m just saying-”

“I know what you’re saying, but I think we just need to calm down for a second and get the facts straight. Then we’ll figure out what to do from here.”

Hyeim leaned back further in her chair, crossing her arms. “I knew you had good sense, Mr. Park”, she said, a smug expression taking over her previous look of dull exhaustion.

“Okay this isn’t about him. This is about how the hell we’re getting out of this building”, Byeongkwan replied. His hand was still tightly locked with Junhee, but anyone would know that now was not the time to bring it up unless he wanted to be slapped.

Sehyoon stepped forward cautiously, fiddling with the strap of the laptop bag on his shoulder. “So what’s going on? How did this happen?”, he asked, clearly trying to move the conversation from Byeongkwan’s outburst. Surprisingly, the shorter man took the hint and stepped back, releasing Junhee’s hand which had become awkwardly sweaty in the last 30 seconds. _That’s embarrassing._

Hyeim grabbed her cell phone off the desk and unlocked it, turning the screen toward the others so they could read the article that was already loaded. 

“You all saw the snow building up last night, right? And you, Mr. Park, you saw the most of it earlier this morning?”

Junhee looked up from trying to read the microscopic text. “Yeah I did… but it was only up to my knee and it looked like it was slowing down when I got here.”

“It looked like it, sure. But that’s not what happened”, Hyeim continued, taking the initiative to scroll the page down even though nobody was done reading. They all made different noises of warning, but she paid them no mind. Her finger rested when a graph appeared.

“Look at what happened after 1am”, she said, gesturing at a point in the center of the graph.

All four men huddled close together to see what she was talking about. She was right about the increase -- what was previously an acute angle suddenly shot up to an almost fully vertical line that ended two points later.

“So it stopped snowing at 3am? And it hasn’t even melted a bit since then?” Sehyoon asked, pushing his glasses to sit higher on the bridge of his nose.

“It did stop snowing, but that wasn’t the end of the night”, she responded cryptically. 

Why was she being cryptic? Junhee just wanted to know what happened and whether he could finally make it to his sister’s place. Once he gets there, he wouldn’t have to worry about any extreme weather. He would be at home with familiar people, and if he was snowed in, then it was just a minor detour, one he could wait forever in peace and comfort. He just needed to make it that far.

“And what does that mean? Did a plane fly by and drop an extra foot of snow that has magically vanished since then?” Yuchan questioned, hands on his hips. If only Junhee had his level of optimism and carelessness right now. If only.

“No. What does that… what? No”, Hyeim stumbled, looking between Yuchan and her phone as she began to scroll down on her screen again. Byeongkwan elbowed his friend hard in the ribs, causing him to cough and stumble backward. He smiled, a faint version of the smile that had been stuck to his face all morning, then quietly walked to the other side of the desk to stand next to Sehyoon. Sehyoon glanced at Junhee for only a fraction of a second, but his gaze spoke clearly -- what the hell was up with them? 

“Hello?”

The group looked up at Hyeim, who had been watching them perform whatever kind of dramatic movement had just occurred. “You want to know about after 3am?”

“Yeah, yeah we do. What happened?” Junhee asked, leaning his elbows on the desk in front of the phone. Byeongkwan and Sehyoon closed in on both sides of him, even closer than before, as Yuchan stood on his toes behind Sehyoon.

“The snow stopped but it got warmer. And when it got warmer, it changed what was meant to be more snow into freezing rain… and that lasted about two more hours”, Hyeim explained, pointing at another graph that showed exactly what she’d said -- a two-hour stretch of freezing rain on top of already heavy snow.

“So it’s all frozen then.”

All five people at the desk looked up frantically, startled by the sudden appearance of a sixth voice behind Junhee’s left ear.

Junhee turned his head to see another man, one who had somehow arrived quietly in the midst of the conversation and joined them without a word. _What a strange thing to do_ , he thought, before the brutal realization hit that he had literally done exactly that not five minutes ago.

The man looked at Junhee with a scowl. “What?”

“Nothing, just- you just scared me a bit.”

The man looked around at the three other men besides Junhee who wore similar but now fading expressions of shock. Hyeim, however, maintained the fear in her eyes as she swallowed.

“Mr. Lee. How nice of you to join us.”

“Well, it wasn’t exactly my choice but thank you”, he said, flashing a smile that was so painfully fake.

“Was the banging too loud?” Sehyoon spoke up, leaning back a bit to get a better look at the man. 

He looked at Sehyoon, carefully considering him, before sighing. “No, I actually didn’t hear it too much over the god awful screeching of the elevator moving THREE times in the last 20 minutes.” He looked at Hyeim. “A room between the elevators is a solid wake up call, don’t you think?”

“Ha ha”, she said, not even bothering to grace him with a real laugh. “Yeah. Yeah, it is. Sorry about that, Mr. Lee.”

“Whatever. And please just say Donghun, I’m not Mr. anything.”

Hyeim nodded, choosing wisely to keep her mouth shut.

“So the snow is frozen then”, Byeongkwan repeated Donghun’s words from earlier, looking past him and out the door. “Is that why the road hasn’t been plowed yet?”

“I have to assume so. The plow always comes by at around 4:00 in the morning, so if it’s not here by now, I don’t think it’s coming.”

“Not at all??? But I- w-we need to get out there today. Like, now. W-we have a flight to catch”, Byeongkwan spoke quickly, motioning over to Yuchan who was staring wide eyed at the door.

Sehyoon nodded. “And I- I have work, I need to meet someone in a- well, not today but I was- I thought I could, you know, get out today and-”

Junhee looked at Byeongkwan and Sehyoon, fear in their eyes. Junhee imagined he looked about as scared as them as the situation began to settle with him. “You’re sure there’s no way to call a cab or anything? I was supposed to be meeting someone yesterday, and I’m really not trying to-”

“Did you guys not hear her?”

The question hung heavy in the room as all four men turned their panicked eyes to Donghun, who had taken a step away from them and crossed his arms.

“The snow is too deep and too frozen. No plows are coming through. That means no flights-”, he looked at Byeongkwan, “no meetings”, then to Sehyoon, “and no cabs.” His gaze rested on Junhee, clearly irritated.

“He’s kind of right…” Yuchan mumbled.

“What the hell?” Byeongkwan turned to him, enraged. “This guy doesn’t know us, we need to leave now.”

“Yeah, but I do. And I saw the list of flights for today, where there was very clearly nothing there”, he shot back, holding his phone up for emphasis. “If the airports and the roads are closed, none of us can go anywhere.”

“What ever happened to that optimism of yours?” Junhee asked before he could stop himself. That was definitely meant to be an internal thought.

Yuchan looked at him, and for a moment, Junhee was worried this would be the end of whatever joyful back-and-forth they had gone through today.

But the man only grinned back at him.

“I never said an extended stay wouldn’t be fun.”

Hyeim tapped her fingers on her desk. “And on that note, I have your customer files here. As much as both you and I don’t want to do this, I’m setting all of your reservations to a later date for now. No charge”, she finished quickly, pointing at Junhee who was definitely about to ask about the fee. He had no clue he was that easy to read.

“How long will this be for?” Byeongkwan asked, one of his legs shaking nervously where he stood.

“No idea. We’ll have to take it one day at a time. I’ll try to call around and see if there’s someone willing to plow the area soon. For now”, she paused, gesturing over the desk toward a room on the right filled with plastic tables and armchairs, “enjoy the amenities and the rest of your stay here. Hopefully not for too long. Trust me, I want you guys out of here as bad as you do.”

Junhee raised his eyebrows, blinking several times before choosing to respond with a simple, “Thanks.”

He pulled his phone out of his pocket, unlocking the screen with a finger hovered over the phone app. He would have to have the conversation with his sister soon, who was probably awake and seeing the snow by now. Maybe she would call first? It wouldn’t matter either way. No matter who called first, he would have to tell her he wouldn’t be sure when he’d arrive or if he’d arrive at all. 

He shook that thought away. Of course he’d be out of here by Christmas. It’s just snow, and it’ll melt soon… hopefully.

Junhee took the opportunity to look around at the other four men who had dispersed to different corners of the lobby.

Sehyoon was pacing back and forth along the left wall, phone in his hand. If Junhee had to guess, Sehyoon was doing exactly what he had been doing mere seconds ago. He didn’t want to stare for too long -- he could tell that the other man got anxious easily, and in all honesty, he very selfishly didn’t want to uphold his reputation as the man who stares.

Junhee turned to Byeongkwan and Yuchan, who had walked over to the room on his right in front of the elevators. Both were settled in an armchair, throwing some not so nice words back and forth. At least, Junhee assumed so. That’s all the duo had been doing since he met them. 

“You don’t seem to be in too much of a rush.”

The voice coming from behind him caused Junhee to twirl around, meeting Donghun’s eyes for the third time today.

“Oh, I am”, he said, looking down at his phone. He could feel Donghun’s eyes following his own. “Just not quite as brave as the others right now.”

Donghun hummed in agreement, nodding his head absent-mindedly and looking around the room like Junhee had just finished doing. 

“You don’t seem too rushed either”, Junhee tested, taking a step closer. Something about Donghun was intriguing, but he couldn’t quite place his finger on it.

“I’m not. I wasn’t planning on leaving today or tomorrow or anytime soon.”

An air of mystery. That’s what it was.

“I see… so why stay somewhere like this?” Junhee questioned, clearly asking too much of the man in their first meeting. He realized that he didn’t care too much. Junhee only cared about the answer at this point.

Donghun shrugged. “You know.”

Junhee’s laugh echoed through the room. “I don’t actually, that’s kinda why I asked.”

Donghun looked at him, the pause between them bordering on unsettling. “Well, you’ll have plenty of time to learn.” And with that, Donghun walked right past Junhee without another word.

Junhee blinked. That was so anticlimactic. But it didn’t have to be. Junhee followed the man for a few steps. “How long? How long do I have?”

Donghun met Junhee’s eyes, then looked the man up and down. A slight shadow of a smirk lingered on his face. “Until Christmas 2021.”

Junhee smiled, watching Donghun turn back and walk toward the elevators.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so here we are! the boys finally know of each other and the situation they're in... we'll see how the next few days treats them :)
> 
> chapter 4 will cover the rest of december 22nd (almost every day will be split into 2 chapters, maybe even all of them. we'll see what happens when i write them), so please look forward to that!
> 
> also, if u wanna follow me on twitter where i live-tweet my writing 1% of the time and tweet about a.c.e 99% of the time, feel free! my cc is linked below too, in case you want to say something but you're worried about commenting here!
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/pkjuns)  
> [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/pkjuns)
> 
> i'll see u all soon! <3


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